Nicole Kufrovich’s expectation Aug. 26 was to turn the knob on the front door of a newly purchased house in East Allen Township and celebrate owning a home. What she didn’t expect was to also turn around and see her boyfriend, Brennen Berry, on one knee with a ring in his hand.

“I was excited about us getting our house, and when I turned around and saw him on one knee, I was even more excited. I wasn’t expecting him to propose this year,” Kufrovich said.

Berry and Kufrovich live in Bath as they wait for renovations to be completed on their home. Kufrovich said they hope to be in the house by Thanksgiving.

Berry said some of the renovations currently taking place are beam installations and electrical work in the main living room and kitchen.

Berry said after the work is completed, they are looking forward to adding their personal touches with painting, designing and decorating.

“Tell me what you want, and I’ll do it,” Berry said with a chuckle, saying he is ready with a hammer for whatever Kufrovich wants done. “Tell me what color you want, and I’ll get it done.”

The two have a long history. Berry moved to Pennsylvania from Alabama in 2002, and both attended George Wolf Elementary School, Northampton Area High School and Northampton Community College. In 2019, they got back in contact with each other and started dating in February of 2020.

Berry and Kufrovich, both 28, said they had been looking for a home for about two years.

“We had to take a little break because I had a medical emergency that needed to be attended to,” Kufrovich said.

Another difficulty during this home purchase experience was the market. Berry said “people overpaying and cash offers” were examples of the challenges they faced while searching for a home. There were a lot of factors that were hard to compete with, they agreed.

Luckily, for the house they just purchased, there was only one other offer placed.

“[Rob McCann] gave us a call,” Berry said. “He told us that there was an offer and that [the sellers] were going to accept it, but [McCann] told [the sellers] that we were interested. [The sellers] then said they’re going to wait for our offer.”

McCann is a broker with Assist 2 Sell Buyers and Sellers Realty Inc. in Northampton and served as their agent.

“I remember saying we need to get this offer in because it’s not going to last long - and sure enough, [the sellers] were waiting on us,” Berry said.

Berry, Kufrovich and McCann agreed it was best to send the offer in on a Friday night instead of waiting until the following Monday morning.

“We had put in offers on probably at least three to four homes, and we’d get the text message or phone call that we didn’t get it because we were close but we didn’t get it or the other offer was all cash, so it was definitely stressful from that aspect,” Berry said. “It became, ‘We’ll put an offer in, but we’re not going to get it.’”

But not this time. The very next day after they submitted their offer on their East Allen Township home, they got a call from McCann saying their offer was accepted.

Although stressful, Berry and Kufrovich said McCann played a big part in helping make buying a house go as smoothly as it could. Kufrovich said picking a local mortgage company - Embassy Bank for the Lehigh Valley - made the process easier, too.

“I don’t think it could have gone any smoother without those two (agent and mortgage company). We really enjoyed working with Rob,” Berry and Kufrovich said.

McCann said of Berry and Kufrovich, “They are both very nice and genuine people, down to earth and easy to be with - the kind of people you want to be around. They were patient with the process and open minded in their search. Even through the disappointments of multiple offers and derelict homes, they were great to work with. There are some clients in this business that you miss working with once they settle and you’re no longer searching for a home. Brennen and Nicole are definitely two of those.”

Berry knew what could make this purchase more special was to propose on the day of the closing.

“Since we got the house, I kind of figured it would be a rare opportunity to make it a very special moment. I figured before we stepped into our new home, we would go in engaged,” Berry said.

Family members were present for the special moment, and Berry arranged for photos to be taken.

“Nicole thought we were just taking some pictures of our new home. I had everybody around. I had given her the keys to the front door, and while she was doing that, I had gotten down on my knee and had the ring waiting for her.”

Both said they are looking forward to their wedding day, which will be Oct. 7, 2023. The venue and dress have been chosen, too.

“We booked our venue. We knew it was the one when we got there - it’s very private with a barn and two areas for a ceremony. As for the dress, I knew it was the one as soon as I had it on,” Kufrovich said.

“[We] look forward to making the house a home. [We] would very much like to have kids someday, so that will probably be the next thing after the wedding. We can’t wait to start a family and see where this life takes us,” Berry and Kufrovich said - “a happily ever after.”